Feds harass Cuba convoy activists upon return to US

As reported by the Canary on 19 March 2026, a convoy of activists travelled to Cuba to protest the US blockade on the country. In a seeming act of revenge, US authorities have now harassed these activists upon their return to the states:

DHS detaining returnees from Cuba, taking their phones, photographing private journals.

Doing this after the successful delivery of tons of aid to Cuba? Sounds like someone's embarrassed at the initiative taken by US citizens to help the Cuban people.https://t.co/HT8VAAeF27

— noah kulwin (@nkulw) March 25, 2026

Cuba Convoy

As Ed Sykes reported for the Canary:

Donald Trump’s second administration has massively tightened the longstanding US stranglehold on Cuba. His escalating campaign of terror has brought the island’s health system to its knees, putting thousands of lives at risk.

The US is preventing other countries from exporting fuel to Cuba. This is slowly causing the country to grind to a halt:

BREAKING: Cuba's electrical grid has suffered a complete and total collapse.

It’s the first nationwide blackout since the US blocked the flow of oil to Cuba.

This was entirely caused by the US.

The US is strangling Cuba to death so it can come in & take control of the country. pic.twitter.com/QBjdvKlIuc

— Power to the People ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) March 16, 2026

Anyone in favor of the US stranglehold on Cuba should listen to this Newsmax interview with @RyanGrim, who just returned from there with harrowing stories.

His key question: why do Americans want to dictate who governs Cuba, while forcibly causing Cubans' deaths from no fuel? https://t.co/BGJfUpKY4J

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 25, 2026

Fuel is still reaching private companies, however, demonstrating that the US is pursuing a corporate takeover of its island neighbour:

The U.S. has sent about 30,000 barrels of fuel to Cuba’s private sector in 2026, despite a broader oil blockade targeting the Cuban government.

The policy, led by the Trump administration, aims to support private businesses while restricting state-run entities.

Shipments are… pic.twitter.com/jNRrWyLvlZ

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 25, 2026

Sykes added:

Numerous social movements, humanitarian groups, trade unionists, and public figures have stepped up to try and scupper Trump’s plans, though.

These groups and individuals have built a coalition to send humanitarian supplies to Cuba, including medicine, food, and solar equipment. In particular, this aid seeks to support medical workers and their patients, while ensuring children have access to vital nutrition.

The first of the venture from the ‘Nuestra América Convoy‘ has already arrived on the island. And more will arrive in the coming days:

BREAKING 🇨🇺 The first delegation of the Nuestra América Convoy arrives to Havana. pic.twitter.com/WEaln5H84S

— Progressive International (@ProgIntl) March 18, 2026

Harassed

In the video at the top, musician and activist Lavish Mack explains:

Yo, this is Lavish and many other people from the Nuestra convoy. We just returned from Cuba and landed in Miami. We’re in the International Airport right now. 18 out of the 20 of us had our phones taken. We were all detained by Border Patrol and interrogated for, I think, about three hours about what exactly we were doing in Cuba, even though they know exactly what we were doing, which is delivering 30 tons of humanitarian, much-needed aid to the Cuban people.

Additionally, the last six people that they took were the Black people. And they just had us in there until Chris finally spoke up and was like, yo, this is a bad little look for y’all. We about to sue you. Then they started expediting and getting us through, but they took all of our phones.

The Chris in question was labour organiser Chris Smalls who famously took on Amazon. Smalls has also supported the people of Palestine:

Chris Smalls, a former Amazon Labor Union leader and prominent labor organizer who was recently abducted and abused by Israel, calls out unions that refuse to criticize Israel and announces a campaign to pressure the AFL-CIO and the ILA.💪 pic.twitter.com/KMHlcWiqIj

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) August 19, 2025

In the Lavish Mack video above, another activist said:

But the other thing I want to add is that I asked for legal counsel many, many times. I said, can I have legal counsel? They said no. And I said, I hear you, but I would really like to have legal counsel. I said… I’m not going to lock the phone until I speak to legal counsel. You may be 100 percent right, but I’m going to feel more comfortable first. So I want to let you know that they said they have warrantless search powers. Maybe they’re right. Maybe they’re not. But that’s what they said.

A ‘just in case’ video posted by Lavish Mack states he’s been detained by Border Patrol while returning to the U.S. Another post on his account says his passport has been seized.

Mack is a musician and vocal supporter of Palestinian liberation. He is also a U.S. citizen. pic.twitter.com/wpj1beqqkj

— Talia Jane ❤️‍🔥 (@taliaotg) July 12, 2025

Full-on imperialism

As many have highlighted, the US has moved into a new phase in which its imperial ambitions are increasingly transparent:

They WILL run the Venezuela playbook on Cuba. Indict the political leadership, invade, install a pliant government that will let US business interests carve up the island. You can see it coming a mile away. https://t.co/cg9pSvnzsT

— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) March 26, 2026

It’s important that people in the West make it clear that we will not tolerate this from our leaders.

Solidarity to all those who are taking a stand.

Featured image via Instagram